Ron DeSantis cleaned out a failing Florida college, eliminated DEI, and enrollment jumped 28 percent.
Now a Massachusetts university is screening a documentary that calls it a coup.
Clark University just told students that Ron DeSantis staged something that would make your jaw drop.
The Film That Calls Reform a Takeover
The documentary is titled First They Came for My College, and the title tells you everything about who made it and why.
Clark's own event description states that New College of Florida was "transformed by a political coup" after DeSantis appointed "six ultraconservatives to the school's Board of Trustees."
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis2024/status/2112524007102616063?s=20
A governor appoints trustees to a public university – the exact authority granted to him under Florida law – and a Massachusetts university calls it a coup.
The film's promotional site describes DeSantis's overhaul as "an unprecedented nationwide assault on academic freedom and diversity."
Clark describes the documentary as telling "the inside story of the right-wing campaign to 'reconquer' higher education in America."
This is not a film.
It is a fundraising pamphlet with a runtime.
What DeSantis Actually Did
In January 2023, Governor DeSantis appointed six new trustees to New College of Florida – a small public liberal arts school in Sarasota that had been hemorrhaging students and running on ideology instead of academics.
The new board eliminated DEI programs, overhauled the academic leadership, and committed to building what DeSantis described as Florida's classical liberal arts college – modeled after Hillsdale, one of the most academically rigorous institutions in the country.
The 2024-25 academic year saw 881 students enrolled – up from 689 the year before the reforms, the largest single-year jump in the school's history.
https://twitter.com/OwenGregorian/status/2112530576854983014?s=20
The Florida Legislature approved $52.7 million in additional funding for New College – the largest state investment the school had ever received.
DeSantis's own press office described the result plainly: the school went from "left-wing indoctrination" to "classical liberal arts" with an emphasis on truth and academic freedom.
That is not a coup.
That is exactly what a governor is supposed to do with a failing public institution.
The University That Signed a National Protest Letter
Clark hosting this film is not a random programming choice.
This is a university with a documented pattern of political activism dressed up as education.
In April 2025, Clark University President David Fithian signed a national higher-education statement organized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities – a public declaration of opposition to federal education policies.
"This is a time to stand up for what is right," Fithian announced.
He was talking about opposing Trump administration policies, not defending students or academic standards.
Clark students walked out of class in October 2023 – just days after Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis – to "support Palestinians."
Now Clark's Department of Visual and Performing Arts is using university resources to screen a political documentary that portrays a Republican governor as a fascist, followed by a Q&A with the director.
The University of Southern California, University of Kansas, and Ohio State are screening the same film.
This is not grassroots.
This is coordinated.
Academia Is Telling You Who They Are
The left-wing university establishment has spent the last three years reacting to DeSantis' New College reforms with absolute fury – not because the reforms failed, but because they worked.
Christopher Rufo – who helped architect the New College strategy – declared that Florida had become the model every red state should copy.
He was right.
And the reason elite universities from Worcester to Los Angeles are screening this film right now is because they know it.
Clark University is not educating its students about New College.
It is mobilizing them against a reform that could spread to Massachusetts next.
Your tuition dollars at work.
Sources:
- Michael Duke, "Clark University to screen film portraying DeSantis's college reforms as a 'coup,'" Campus Reform, October 20, 2026.
- "New College of Florida Thanks Gov. DeSantis for Continued Support," New College of Florida, 2024.
- Gigafact/Suncoast Searchlight, "Did New College of Florida's enrollment grow under conservative leadership?" March 20, 2026.
- Clark University, "This Is a Time to Stand Up for What Is Right," April 24, 2025.
